1949 A Catford trainer is ordered to pay an owner £60, including costs, after he had inadvertently handed over a runner to conman who claimed he was collecting the dog on behalf of the owner.
2003 Wimbledon alter their race distances following major re-shaping of the first bend. It is now 412m from the previous, 408m. The 680m trip will become 688 and the marathon goes from 868m to 872 metres. The 460 and 480 metre distances will remain unchanged due to the relocation of the starting traps. The track also concede that some of the original distances were already fractionally inaccurate following the re-calculation from yards to metres in 1971.
1996 Independent Oldham is shut by promoter Arnie Kay.
2014 Greyhound racing is mourning the loss of one of the greatest track trainers of all time, Ger McKenna (84). Based in Borrisokane in Tipperary, Ger first made his name in 1957 with the brilliant Prince Of Bermuda who would become the first of his 12 Irish St.Leger winners. He won three Irish Derbys (Own Pride, Bashful Man, Rathgallen Rady) and two English Derbys (Parkdown Jet and Lartigue Note) among literally dozens of classics. (There were seven Irish Laurels!). Of course the greatest name in track training would then be taken onto the next generation by his son Owen.
1969 Over 1,000 patrons crammed into Brough Park for a greyhound sale hosted by the Anglo-Irish company, usually associated with Hackney. Some 93 greyhounds found new owners with purchases reaching £8,000 (index linked to £112K).
1991 Coral, who sold Powderhall the previous year for £3m, announce that they are to sell their greyhound tracks Romford and Hove as they look to fund the purchase of 73 bingo halls from Granada for £150m. But they may have less to sell than they first imagined when they lose a court case to Alliance and Leicester Building Society and will be forced to relinquish the land on which the Orchard Road enclosure is built.
2013 Former trainer Stuart Mason is placed on the GBGB forfeit list for failing to pay his £1,500 fine that also included the suspension of his licence (on appeal).
1937 Story from Greyhound Express: “Trainer Powell of Wembley has no use for barometers or weather prophets. The most reliable weather expert is in his kennel – Dashleigh, a bitch racer. Powell can always tell when bad weather is imminent for Dashleigh frantically tears her bedding and covers herself over with straw. When the fine weather is ahead, Dashleigh curls her tail, a very rare occurrence of course.”
1992 Former Irish open race star Avoid The Clash is put to sleep after breaking a leg at Walthamstow.
1987 Northern Irish trainers land a 1-2 in the Guinness 600 at Shelbourne Park when John Quinn’s Murlens Slippy holds off Davy Lennon’s Low Sail by a short head.
1991 Phantom Flash became the second shortest priced winner of the Scottish Derby when going to traps at 1-4f. (The shortest was 1930 winner Captured alf at 1-5f). The Patsy Byrne trained Flash wins by six lengths in 29.77 for the 500m.
2006 Hall Green suspend racing manager Rob Coulthard and assistant Pete Churn over “integrity related incidents”.
1991 Bristol racing manager Dennis Pope has handed in his notice citing a “growing and orchestrated campaign” against him. The stadium was recently heavily find by the NGRC for a series of errors and inaccuracies blamed on the racing office.
1967 Stylish Lad (Greenane Wonder-Stylish Biddy, Oct 64), bred and reared in a Reading back garden, lands the Gold Collar for owner and breeder Les Stiles. The brindle and white held off favourite Monalee Champion in the Catford 570 yard decider.
2013 Paul Twinn takes over the Newcastle grader’s chair from Ian Hillis
1992 Owner Toni Tungatt threatens to sue the NGRC after her application for an owner-trainer’s licence is rejected.
1971 Chelsea Star, a 33-1 chance for the English Derby just weeks earlier, is unsold at Walthamstow Sales following a highest bid of 200gns.
